Without ever playing especially well, Tipperary worked out a way to beat Waterford to claim their first Munster SHC title since 2012, and the first of the Eamon O’Shea era.

Tipperary played with the kind of freedom we expect from them for about 15 minutes in total, including a fine spell at the start of the game that yielded a four-point lead and then again in the closing stages when they closed out the game in style, but for a large part of an absorbing, if at times frustrating game, they got tangled in Waterford’s web.

Na Déise worked their way back into the game at the start of the second quarter – thanks largely to Maurice Shanahan’s excellence at the point of their attack and to Tipp’s increasingly poor use of the ball – and were just a point down at the break, 0-10 to 0-9. The game turned into an arm wrestle in the second half, but Tipperary were always able to keep their noses just about in front, though they were certainly helped by Waterford’s profligate shooting at a crucial juncture of the game.

There was still just a point in it after 50 minutes when Waterford were hit with a dose of squander-mania. At that stage, Tipperary moved Séamus Callanan and John O’Dwyer, who had been swallowed up by the Waterford defence up to then, further out the field and they were much more dangerous in the closing stages as a result.

Although Callanan failed to score from play, O’Dwyer finished with three points from play and was much more effective when released from his duties in the inside forward line. In the closing stages, though, it was first Lar Corbett, then Patrick Maher and, finally, Shane Bourke who nailed the scores that at last shook off Waterford’s challenge.

Tipperary started superbly, and were 0-6 to 0-2 up after just 12 minutes. Eamon O’Shea’s side started with Pádraic Maher as a deep-lying sweeper and he cleaned up in the full-back line and fed a constant supply of long diagonal balls to his inside forward line, bypassing the influential Tadhg de Búrca.

The ploy worked a treat, with Niall O’Meara popping over two scores from play in that spell, Patrick Maher and then O’Dwyer putting Tipperary four clear. However, with the momentum right with them, Tipperary appeared to slacken off in their efforts, and that’s when Na Déise powered into the game.

Kevin Moran, who enjoyed a fine first half on Brendan Maher, got Waterford back into their stride, but Stephen Bennett had a great goal chance when Darren Gleeson dropped a clearance into his path – emblematic of Tipperary’s puzzling and very sudden malaise – and sprinted clear only to kick his shot across the goal.

Then, Waterford really powered on, striking four points without reply in a four-minute spell to draw level. Austin Gleeson landed a huge free and then Shanahan struck three in-a-row, two fine scores from play sandwiching a well-struck free. The equaliser, on 25 minutes, came after a poor mistake from Ronan Maher, whose clearance fell straight into the hands of the Lismore man.

Moran put Waterford ahead for the first time on 32 minutes, but Tipperary were ahead at the break, when Michael Breen, who played in midfield and then full-forward before being taken off at half-time despite wearing No. 4, struck a fine score and Callanan added a free in additional time. Second best for long spells, Tipperary were lucky to lead by 0-10 to 0-9.

There was little to get excited about at the start of the second half, but Colin Dunford did manufacture a fine chance for himself on 48 minutes when he robbed Pádraic Maher of the sliotar before shooting straight at Gleeson. Shanahan put over the resultant ’65’ but it was a rare moment of joy in a period when Waterford hit a succession of poor wides.

O’Dwyer, now freed of his shadow Noel Connors and operating in the half-forward line along with Callanan, slotted over a fine score from play and Tipp didn’t look back in the final 15 minutes, finding another seam of form when it looked for so long like it wouldn’t be their day.

They outscored Waterford by 0-6 to 0-3 in the closing stages, with Patrick Maher and sub Shane Bourke rounding off a victory that will be celebrated wildly in Tipperary – not for the beauty of the performance, but for the simple fact that the last two years without any joy in Munster must have felt like an eternity in the Premier County.
***
Scorers for Waterford: Maurice Shanahan 0-8 (0-3f, 0-2 65), Kevin Moran 0-2, Austin Gleeson 0-2, Shane Fives 0-2, Patrick Curran 0-1, Colin Dunford 0-1.

The Tipperary team to play Waterford in Sunday’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final at 4pm in Semple Stadium has been announced by manager Eamon O’Shea.

It shows 2 changes, to the starting XV that lined out for the Munster semi-final 3 weeks ago.

Making his return to action after being out with a shoulder injury Cathal Barrett from Holycross Ballycahill is named at right corner back while Michael Breen from Ballina makes his full Championship debut starting at right half back.